Forget Tavernier: 162-touch Rangers tank with 11 duels won dominated Ibrox on Thursday - opinion

Gio van Bronckhorst’s Rangers enjoyed a magical night at Ibrox as they made their way through to the Europa League semi-final on Thursday.

The Gers went into the game 1-0 down on aggregate and ended up winning 3-1 on the night, to go through on a 3-2 lead, and thus securing their place in the last four.

James Tavernier made Ibrox bounce in the opening 90 seconds as he latched onto a flick from Joe Aribo to slide the ball into the bottom corner from a tight angle, putting Rangers on the front foot early on.

Kemar Roofe thought he put them 2-0 up a few minutes later before VAR ruled that Borna Barisic used his hand in the build-up. However, the striker then played a pivotal role in Gers’ actual second goal as he won the penalty that Tavernier converted before half time.

Braga were able to take the match to extra time as David Carmo headed the ball in from a corner to make it 2-2 on aggregate.

Rangers reacted brilliantly to this setback as they dominated the last 30 minutes of the tie, with Glen Kamara and Aribo combining on the right to tee up Roofe for a tap-in from six yards out.

Whilst Tavernier will receive acclaim for his two goals and the attackers will get credit for the Gers scoring three goals, Connor Goldson deserves huge praise for his performance as he dominated Ibrox on Thursday.

The towering centre-back was a tank at the back for Van Bronckhorst and played a big role in allowing the Scottish giants to control the match and keep Braga at bay for the most part.

As you can see in the graphic above, Goldson was instrumental for the Gers as he dictated the play from the back and was strong defensively throughout.

He won nine of his 10 aerial duels and made one block and two tackles to go along with his five